


Tantamount Parallels

by Aaronna



Series: Soldier of Healing [9]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Agni facepalms, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cliffhanger Ahead: Proceed at your own risk, Episode s01e19 Siege of the North Part 1 rewrite, Hahn is insane, Herbalist Zuko (Avatar), How little the Northern Watertribe know about the Fire Nation makes Spirit want to cry, Hurt!Aang, Hurt!Katara, Hurt!Yue, I did absolutely no editing, Inspirer Muffin lance's Tumblr page, Iroh misunderstands, La laughs, Miyuki huffs, Multi, No Bete: We die like men, Not Canon Compliant, Sokka is ticked, Spirit is Tired, Tui shakes her head, all typos are my own, almost, androgynous Zuko, bad memories, history likes to repeat, unreliable bending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:22:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27101146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaronna/pseuds/Aaronna
Summary: Herbalist!Zuko AU - Episode Siege of the North Part 1 rewriteThe calm before the storm, the still before the battle. It was like Shu Valley all over again.
Relationships: Aang & Katara (Avatar), Sokka/Spirit/Yue (Avatar), Sokka/Yue (Avatar), Spirit & Katara (Avatar), Spirit/Sokka (Avatar), Spirit/Yue (Avatar)
Series: Soldier of Healing [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1910278
Comments: 62
Kudos: 412





	Tantamount Parallels

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MuffinLance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffinLance/gifts).



> Feel free to point out typos so I can go back and fix them.

Meditation with friends should be fun, but this wasn't the case for Spirit. Sokka and Yue were bonding over the differences between the poles instead of staying quiet and meditating with him. It wasn't all bad though.

He was hearing about his friends' homes from their points of view. For example, he had only heard good things about the South from the men he had healed, but he hadn't realized the South had gotten worse since the men left to fight. Yue seemed to think the North would be better off if they didn't rely so heavily on waterbending for common everyday needs.

Somehow, the conversation turned to their struggles to try to bend when they were nonbenders and something lit a memory in the firebender's mind. He had thought he was as flameless as his great aunts until he was eight and even then it took a great deal of effort until Uncle explained how he could bend fire without creating it, which let everything fall into place. Who said the moon's child wasn't the same?

'(•V•)'

Yue wasn't sure what prompted this, but Spirit had come to her one evening and asked her about her training before they knew she wasn't a bender. Seeing as she hadn't been trained at all since both her parents were nonbenders, she had tried to learn entirely on her own from stories of the first waterbenders. She must have said the wrong thing because her betrothed looked murderous. 

That was when she learned the man she was pledged to was not just of Fire Nation blood, but an actual firebender. It explained his desire to sit in the sun all day if he could manage it. It also brought up a story from before he became Spirit. 

He told her about a young boy who had been forced to train tirelessly day in and day out to try to bend fire. He spoke of a little sister who had created sparks the day she was born. She found out he had learned not to create fire, but to move it first, years after his sister had been training. She found out it wasn't until his mother and cousin were gone that he truly learned to bend flames. He then asked her if she was sure she wasn't moon blessed as he was sun blessed. 

How was she supposed to answer a question like that? She had tried to move water back and forth as the moon did, but year after year she failed. She doubted there was a water equivalent to what Spirit had done as a child.

That was how she ended up on the Avatar's flying bison with Sokka and Spirit. She had been so enchanted by how affectionate Appa was with the boys, but it seemed mutual so it quickly became another reason she liked those two. It didn't help that when she mentioned the cold, bother her and the Southern warrior were pulled close to the firebender who warmed up the area around them.

The next several minutes were filled with questions about how Katara started bending as a child, blushes, and awkward conversation. Spirit rolled his eyes at the two of them as if it wasn't inappropriate for the two of them to practically be sitting in his lap and he spoke softly and breathily to them in his dusky voice. She was just glad she wasn't alone in her feelings about this.

Sokka looked exactly like she felt. Happy, but embarrassed and uncomfortable with the intimacy. She knew Sokka was pretending to be engaged to Spirit, but did he like the boy that way? She thought of her fiancé as more of the brother she had always wished for, so it was weird to be in this position. 

Clearly done with their awkwardness, Spirit got up, forced the two of them to sit close together, cleared his throat, and had them both try to feel the water while their eyes were closed. It seemed to be pointless, since she could always tell where the ocean was. Or at least she thought so until she realized she sensed it below and beside her.

When she explained that, Spirit grinned. He said he was wondering if La had a chosen a child and he wasn't surprised that it was Sokka. She had almost expected the reaction that caused, but her creating an ice barrier to keep him from falling into the sea had her shaken. Which was why Spirit pulled them both close and tied to calm them both with words and warmth.

She had never felt more loved then at that moment, but she wasn't sure Sokka felt the same because he was breathing too fast and didn't seem to be getting any air. Spirit was starting to sound frantic, so she acted. It worked, but now she was lip locked with someone she wasn't betrothed to and was really enjoying it. If the deep breath Sokka had taken before he pulled her back for a second kiss was any indication, she wasn't the only one. 

They only came back to themselves when the warmth disappeared. For a panicked moment, she was afraid Spirit was angry she had been kissing his best friend, but she saw the black snow and realized it was what had drawn the firebender from them. The boys locked eyes and spoke in unison.

Fire Nation. 

She had never seen Spirit look scared before and right now, he looked terrified. Sokka gently pushed his fiend into her arm as he led Appa further out to sea. She was worried about how shaky her betrothed was and it starting to scare her.

When they got near the seemingly endless wave of ships she felt Spirit stiffen in his arms as he stared at the massive ship near the front. She could just make out an old man sitting at a table with something white and fluffy with him. The fear in his eyes was gone and replaced with longing and sadness.

When they returned to the city, Spirit vanished like his namesake. She didn't see him until the end of the meeting as Sokka was getting his marks and he was in black with swords on his back. This caused a stir in the council hall as Sokka smiled and nodded at him instead of scolding him like most of the people had been expecting. 

Sokka was quick to silence protests stating Spirit was the one person here that knew the most about war and the Fire Nation. Having received the scar healing in the aftermath of a horrible battle and had grown up in the shadow of a Fire Nation stronghold. He said they would be fools to ignore intel just because Spirit wasn't a man.

As protests continued, there was a ring of steel as the broad, curved swords were unsheathed and split. Spirit pointed the left one at Hahn and asked if he thought he could win a fight between them. His dismissal of the idea of fighting a girl caused the firebender to chuckle icily.

He stated that they were doomed to fail them because every single woman in the Fire Nation was taught to use a blade if they were not benders. He nodded to Sokka who drew his machete and club and they sparred right there in front of everyone. Yue had never seen the style they were using, but it was clear Spirit was the better fighter of the two and Sokka was better than most of their men.

When Pakku stepped forward, she feared the worst, but he seemed more interested in the blades than their wielder. Spirit held one out for the waterbending master to inspect. That seemed to be enough for her father because he asked him to advise the infiltration team.

After that she helped get the women and children into the far part of the city, away from where the fighting would likely happen. This continued until Spirit and Avatar Aang landed exhausted in the main plaza. They said they had taken out dozens of ships and hadn't made an impact on their numbers.

She didn't remember what triggered the conversation about spirits, but the Avatar thought he could ask Tui and La for help. Her intended said that wasn't usually how spirits did things, but followed her, Aang, and Katara to the Oasis. They weren't there for more than a few moments before Spirit bowed to the koi in the pool and stated they might wish to change form before his patron arrived. The koi she had seen her entire life were the spirits of the Moon and Ocean.

She stood there in shock with Katara while the Avatar tried to get the spirits to speak to him. Spirit had left at some point, but she was too entranced by the white koi that was Tui in the flesh. That fish granted her life when she had been a sickly babe too weak to even cry. She owed the moon everything and she planned to protect it at all costs.

Beside her, Katara gasped. Startled, she looked over just in time to see the wall of water collapse back into the moat. She had done that. She truly was a bender the entire time, but only Spirit ever thought it possible. 

She couldn't dwell on the implications of her feelings because Katara started talking. She asked Yue more questions than she could hope to answer. Soon, her and Aang were trying to show her bending moves, but the water wouldn't budge. 

She had only bent twice in her 16 years and both had been by instinct, not instruction. If she was going to defend this oasis from anyone willing to do Tui harm, she needed to master this skill as she did etiquette and sewing. There was always a rule that everything else followed with skills like that and she needed to find it. She was the daughter of the Moon and she would protect her mother just as her mother would do likewise, by instinct. 

That said, she was not prepared for the old man from the ship to barge right into the oasis and demand Aang to release his dead nephew. When the Avatar denied any knowledge of what the man was talking about, flames started to fly. He was more than a match for the pair despite the sun having set. It was almost as if he was also drawing power from the moon's light.

When a shot of fire nearly hit the koi pool, the world slowed down for Yue as her protective instincts kicked in. Within two beats of her heart, the man was pinned to the wall where he belched fire at them as tears poured down his face. Usually she would have felt pity, but he nearly killed the waves and tides, the source of waterbending, the Moon herself. 

When the sun rose, so did the old firebender's strength. She wasn't sure how it happened, she must have been distracted, because she saw him lunge at them and then woke with a headache, head resting on Spirit's lap. Worse, Aang was gone.

'(•V•)' 

Sokka wasn't sure where it all went wrong. He and Yue were getting to know each other, then Spirit got it in his head that the Northern Princess was a waterbender. They took Appa to make sure no one overheard them and headed out to sea.

Yue wasn't used to the chill of flying, but that didn't mean Spirit had to pull them both close enough to feel the firebender's chest rise and fall with each breath. Then, of course, it got worse when the idiot started talking in that voice that gave him shivers, which led to being held tighter.

Thankfully Yue was blushing as hard as he was when the whispery talking started. It only got worse with time and their squirming must have finally gotten bad enough to be a hint they were uncomfortable, because Spirit let them go. The firebender pushed them together as he got up and moved away to sit across the saddle from them.

They got a lecture on how to meditate then they were told to do it while feeling for La. Sokka didn't really believe a nonbender could do that, but he humored his friend. It wasn't like knowing which way the ocean was was the first lesson southern watertribe boys learned, nope.

He sat there in silence for only a few moments before the princess gasped. She was staring at him in shock then said she felt the ocean in him. That was reeling enough without Spirit laughing and saying he was La's son.

He already had parents he loved with his whole heart. Kya, his mom, might be gone, but he wasn't going to replace her with the sea. He scrambled back and nearly fell off Appa, reminding him of that fear he had felt when Spirit fell. The same one he felt when he lost his mother to fire and his father to war.

And just like that, he fell into those memories of the day his mother died that he had tried to avoid at all costs. Katara didn't know, but he saw what had been done to their mother and whenever he tried to remember what she looked like, he saw her from that day. It had been a horrible way to die.

It wasn't just their mother either. He had seen the warriors that fell. Most were only identified by the remainder of their weapons that didn't burn. That was the day he felt his childhood end because he had seen more death that day than most saw in a lifetime. 

He could feel the heat of the fires, the burn of the icy air. He was there, in his past with no way to escape. He could hear Bato trying to comfort Dad, but words wouldn't bring Mom back. Then, Yue was there, rescuing him.

It was his first real kiss, not that Suki's didn't count, but a peck on the cheek was nothing compared to this. It felt right. A calmness to his boundless energy, steadiness to his change, tradition against his science, his opposite and complement. The Tui to his La.

Then, the moment ended with a gust of cold air and the black snow falling. It was happening again. The Fire Nation was coming for the Watertribe. 

Spirit looked like he had taken another swim in the ocean with how pale and shaky he was. Not sure he should head back just yet, he gave the firebender to Yue to watch as he grabbed Appas reins and moved them further out to sea to get intel to take back. He had been expecting a lot of ships, but this was worse than he had thought possible. 

There were hundreds of ships and they flew as close to them as they dared. They must have been close enough because Spirit recognized someone down there. Sokka wasn't sure if it was one of the people he had healed or someone from the firebender's past, but that was the same look his dad had when the men left the south. 

As soon as they got back, Spirit ran off, probably to get his swords if his stance was anything to go by. Oh boy, this was going to be fun. Good thing he had attached his own weapons to the saddle in case they had gone hunting. He was going to need them for one thing or another. 

He was right of course. He explained the black snow and told the council what they had seen and then Spirit showed up after the volunteers had received their marks, swords on his back and his black fighting clothes on. He couldn't help but smile at his friend.

He knew the men were going to have a problem with the person they thought was a woman carrying a weapon, so he had spent this entire time coming up with a list of reasons it was good to let Spirit join them. He didn't even have to lie or call his friend a girl.

His words bounced right off their hard heads, so Spirit drew his swords loudly and dramatically. It was ridiculous, but it shut them up. No one was surprised when the dueling challenge was dismissed, but that laugh and harsh words about failure hit their mark. That was when his machete and club came in. The men thought Spirit needed protected or was beneath them? Well, it was time to put that to rest.

Of course, Spirit didn't fight like he did in the training field, that would be too obvious. Instead, he was mixing waterbending moves with those for firebending and few other things Sokka didn't recognize as his twin dao sang with each blow. The Southern warrior had been told he was better than most of the Northerners, but he was like a toddler compared to the sword master he was up against. 

It was fun while it lasted, but then the jerk who wouldn't teach Katara walked up, so they stopped. The man looked like he was always unimpressed, but there was a clear air of excitement around them when Spirit offered up one of his swords for inspection. From prior experience, Sokka knew the man saw the minor dents from deflecting rocks, discoloration from fire, and pseudo-scratches from other swords. Those blades showed their history, a shared history, with the firebender. 

That must have been enough for the chief, because he allowed Spirit to talk with the group planning on infiltrating the navy. One look at the uniforms had Sokka nearly laughing while his friend looked like he was praying for patience. They then got a lecture on uniforms and how they change with each Fire Lord. 

Without asking when they gained the uniforms, Spirit guessed the age by the design, late Sozin, but after the genocide. He then completely destroyed their plan by pointing out every weakness. The worst being that they thought assassinating the leader of the invasion would end the battle before it started.

Knowing the fleet was led by Zhao was overshadowed by news that the man planning the invasion was General Iroh, Fire Nation Prince, Dragon of the West, and the man who laid siege to the greatest Earth Kingdom city for nearly two years. When asked how he had been stopped at Ba Sing Se, Spirit looked at them with hard eyes and told them the man stopped the fighting himself when his only child was buried alive right in front of him. No one said a word, but Sokka felt a deep need to hug his friend because he heard about what the firebender had been through and those dead eyes were clearly seeing events long passed.

He didn't end up hugging Spirit because Chief Arnook had a new plan, which wasn't nearly as bad as the earlier one. A small force of benders would cripple the leading ships, forming a wall of steel to slop the other ships from approaching. It wasn't without flaws, but it would at least buy them some time.

He should have known his friends would be part of the destruction team. Aang was both a distraction and a saboteur while Spirit was doing his own thing. Eventually, they returned looking tired to their bones and Katara and Yue talk with them for a while before they ran off somewhere, leaving Sokka alone with some jerk who acted like they were chief and making rude comments about Princess Yue. 

His name was Hahn and he had originally been put in charge of the infiltration team before Spirit crushed their plan into dust. Come to think of it, it was the same guy who the firebender had challenged back in the meeting hall. The guy was walking on the thin ice that remained of Sokka's patience, not that the guy seemed to care.

Sokka was used to being made fun of, it was Katara’s favorite pastime, but he was not used to people talking badly about the others. Hahn talked about the failed Avatar who hid for a hundred years, now was too childish to master water bending and how a Northern Watertribe Avatar would have defeated the Fire Nation at the start of the war. Then, he was bad mouthing Katara, saying she was too much of a boy and should be allowed to heal or fight as a lesson. It was what he said about Spirit and Yue that was pushing him to the edge of his endurance.

If he had thought the things the guys on the training field said was bad, these were vile. He talked about how he was going to take Yue whether she was willing or not because she had been promised to him. He said he should maim Spirit for the disrespect shown in the meeting hall and for influencing the princess. If he said one more thing about harming either of them, Sokka was fully prepared to issue a singing duel.

His intent must have showed on his face because the other warriors were putting themselves between them as they tried to get the jerk to shut up. Someone must have realized things had gone too far and drug them off to tell them off, which had Hahn kicking up an even bigger fuss that got the chief called in. Sokka wasn’t sure what all happened, but Hahn was taken away by who the Southerner assumed was the guy’s dad and he was assigned to guard Princess Yue.

After that, Spirit came to get him, trying to explain how the spirits of the moon and ocean were koi fish in a pond in the middle of the North Pole. At this point, Sokka was too tightly wound to care, which might be why his friend asked if he could help with his hair. It took the whole night, but a wolftail with braids, a nap for Spirit, and facepaint to hide the scar left him calm enough for them to be heading to where Aang and the girls were.

Sokka would regret taking so long to calm down for a long time because when they arrived at the magically warm gardens where the spirit fish lived, Katara and Yue were unconscious on the ground. Both boys raced over and Spirit checked them over. Katara had a bump on her head and a few minor burns from the clear fight with a firebender, but Yue was a bit more injured.

Her head was bleeding from where she had been hit and Spirit was worried about her neck from falling like she did. In the end, they each ended up as pillows for the girls. They sat there until Katara woke up.

She told them about the fight with an old firebender wanting Aang to release a dead boy's spirit and Yue glowing when the fish almost got hit by the fire. Deep in his chest, Sokka was sure when they found Aang, it would be like his mom all over again. He wasn't losing someone else like that again, not if he could help it, he thought as the princess woke up.

'(•V•)'

Between Aang, Yugoda, and Spirit, Katara couldn't believe how much she had learned about waterbending. She spent all morning in the healing hut, the afternoon with Aang, and the better part of the night it was her and the firebender going through the sets he saw for her to try as well as applying water to firebending katas and them sparing flames against water. This was why she was the first Person to hear Spirit's theory that Yue was a waterbender and didn't know it and that Sokka was a child of La.

It made sense to her. Yue felt like the moon now that she thought about it and the princess had told them the story about the first waterbenders, so Katara wouldn't be surprised if the white haired girl could bend. Sadly, she couldn't think of a way for Spirit to help their friend learn how.

As for Sokka, she wasn't so sure. He didn't seem to have a real connection with the ocean. Sure, he often got wet when her bending didn't work like she wanted, but that was just his bad luck, not an affinity for the sea.

Spirit was sure Sokka had some kind of connection with La, so he left her to her healing lessons and took those two out on Appa to test his suspicions. When the black snow began falling, they returned, and Spirit did one of his vanishing acts while Sokka told the council in the meeting hall what they had seen. There were hundreds of ships out there, heading right for them.

Then the firebender was back in his black, but too thin for the cold of the poles, outfit with his swords challenging the guy Yue had been avoiding. It went about as well as she expected and ended with a playful fight between him and her brother that got Spirit partially accepted as a Fire Nation expert. She just hoped he put on a coat so he wouldn’t freeze or give himself away as a firebender. Next time she saw Spirit, he was flopping tiredly out of Appa’s saddle after their sabotage mission. 

Her and Yue talked about bending and spirits when Aang brought up talking with them. The princess knew of a place, so they headed that way, tired boys in tow. They ended up in an oasis. It was green and impossibly warm for being surrounded by ice. There was a moat and a pond with two fish, one black and one white. Spirit took one look at the circling koi and addressed them as Tui and La.

The firebender spoke to the spirits like they were people and not mystical beings of untold power. He warned them it wasn't safe for them to stay in their fish form. She wasn't sure if he thought the threat was the Fire Nation or his cat mentor. 

She and Aang tried to speak with the spirits while Spirit went to get some rest. She was fairly certain they were heard and being ignored by Tui and La as they continued to swim after each other. Katara almost wanted to say the moonlight was laughing against her skin.

She ignored the feeling until the water in the moat reversed its flow. Looking to Aang, she saw his wide eyes looking the other direction. He was looking at Yue.

The princess seemed to be floating on the tips of the grass blades, her white hair and blue eyes glowing with the same silvery light as the moon she served. The water rose with the movement of Yue's wrist. She was bending the water, but she did so as the moon itself did, unlike a waterbender. 

Katara couldn't help the gasp that escaped her lips, but it broke the spell the girl had been under. She landed back on the ground as the water wall splashed back where it came from and Yue's light winked out. The princess looked just as shocked as they felt.

Aang asked the first question and Katara fell in with him as he gently interrogated with an innocence only he could manage. Her answers led to them trying and failing to teach her to bend as they did. Despite Yue's determination, the water wouldn't move for her.

They had been so focused on teaching the princess that they didn't realize someone else had entered the oasis until a flame appeared in the corner of their vision. Katara didn't know who this firebender was, but when he asked for Aang to let the ghost of his nephew free, she was almost positive he was referring to Spirit, or should she say Prince Zuko. He started the fight, so she joined it.

It was the dead of winter and the middle of the night. He should not have been as strong as he was. Between her and Aang, they were barely holding him off. Then he almost hit the spirit koi and Yue ended the fight in a heartbeat. 

The man cried and Katara wanted to tell him the truth. His nephew was still alive, no thanks to the Fire Lord, and had been one of the men slowing down the invasion fleet. But she couldn't trust that this man wasn't just as bad as Spirit's father, only pretending to care so he could end her friend without them interfering. 

She should have been on her guard as dawn drew closer, but she assumed the ice around the man was enough to stop him. She knew it wouldn't hold Spirit, so why did she think it was enough to stop his uncle? She wasn't quick enough to keep him from hitting Yue and didn't have time to wake Aang from his well deserved sleep, so she was at the man's mercy when something hard crashed into the side of her head and everything went grey.

When her vision came back, her head was in Sokka's lap and Yue's in Spirit's. She looked around, but Aang was gone. She hated it, but she told the others of her failure.

From the way Spirit's shoulders loosened and this back straightened, she knew he was going to go after the man. If her head hurt a little less and Yue wasn't hurt, she would be righted there with him. She just hope he and Sokka would be enough to take the man down and rescue Aang.

'(•V•)'

Kanaan wasn't a waterbender or even a great fighter. The reason he given what little power he had was because he saw things others didn't. Some things he would point out for the good of the tribe, others he kept to himself for the same reason.

He saw the color of Spirit's eyes, he knew she was at least part Ashmaker. He also saw glimpses of the betrothal necklace around the princess's throat and knew that tile represented the element of fire in pai sho. Given the way their moon child clung to the daughter of the sun, he was sure who had given the necklace. 

Then their was the traditional watertribe betrothal necklace worn by Spirit. She had been wearing it when the arrived soaking wet with young Sokka. Kanaan was fairly certain those two were meant to be engaged, yet there was Princess Yue tied to the Fire Nation girl. 

Was it a practice of the Southern Watertribe to take two wives? Perhaps it was a way for the tribe to continue with less men around due to the war? Maybe it was a Fire Nation practice that the Southern warrior had agreed to, for all he knew.

He knew better than to tell anyone what he saw for several reasons. One, he knew Spirit was the mysterious fighter that had fought them all, since that paint couldn't hide the distorted shap of her scarred eye. Two, he was sure Chief Arnook had planned to give the princess to Hahn, who was dangerously unintelligent. Three, he had never seen the girl he had helped guard since birth look so happy.

He wasn't comfortably with the three of them flying off together, but when they returned with warnings about the black snow, he was glad he kept his concerns to himself. He volunteered his services right along with young Sokka and was standing beside the boy when Spirit arrived in clothes too thin for a Northerner, let alone a fire child. If the Southern warrior said was true, she was likely a firebender born among the earth, a wild child.

He nearly choked on his suppressed laughter when, out of everyone, the girl with the swords picked Hahn as her possible opponent. Of course the boy waved her off like a fish scale you found in your soup, insignificant. He nearly fell to his knees to beg forgiveness when she laughed as though the Face Stealer was the one standing there and not the fire child.

The spar between Spirit and Sokka was showy, but practical. The fact that she was using waterbending moves with her swords acting in place of the water was to prove a point. He wasn't sure were the other moves came in, but it was clear she was more than a match for their nonbenders and possibly even some of the weaker waterbenders.

Master Pakku must have thought the same thing because he strode towards the pair, eyes locked on the twin blades. The two fighters didn't even have to signal their show was over, they were so in sync with each other, and Spirit offered up one sword for the master to look over. That was all their leader needed to allow the girl to advise them on matters of the Fire Nation. 

Hahn coming into the room in the red armor had young Sokka getting teary eyed from suppressed mirth and Spirit looked like she was a bout to pull out her hair in dismay. The girl knew her stuff, that was sure. She knew the armor was from roughly 80 years before and explained that each Fire Lord had different armor.

Sozin's red with spikes began just after the genocide of the Air Nomads and ended with his death. Apparently, Azulon darkened the red and shrunk the shoulder plates early in his reign and then did away with the spikes a few decades later. Ozai added black and grey with gold for officers. The outfit Spirit was closer to the Fire Nation Navy than their captured uniform. 

When asked why they needed the suit, Spirit pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. It seemed she personally knew the admiral in charge and knew of the commander under him. It seemed Admiral Zhao was insane and General Iroh was a master tactician.

If the girl was to be believed, the only reason the elder prince of the Fire Nation laid siege to Ba Sing Se, the City with Impenetrable Walls, for nearly two full years and broke through the outer, thickest wall. He only stopped when his only child was crushed to death right in front of him. He was considered a failure for withdrawing, which meant this was likely his last chance for redemption.

There was a look of comfort sent from the man to his betrothed. Did she lose family at Ba Sing Se? Did someone she knew meet their end buried alive? Has she fought the general? Was he the one to scar her face?

He was distracted from his theories by the Chief announcing his change of tactics as Hahn stormed off, face as red as his armor. Arnook was sending benders and the Avatar to sabotage the front edge of the fleet, forming a dam that they would have to fix or go around. It would buy them time to come up with a way to fight the Fire Nation's invasion force.

During the preparations, he lost the girl in the crowd, so he focused on Sokka. The boy trained, tended to his weapons, and held back for killing Hahn. Kanaan wanted to toss the boy out on an iceflow, but it wasn’t his friend, sister, and betrothed the idiot was insulting. Then he suggested forcing himself on princess Yue and killing Miss Spirit, forcing Kanaan to pull them aside to talk.

Hahn sounded like the demented sailors pulled of the sea left to La's fancy. He had it in his head that he was more important than the spirits they served, that he could do whatever he wanted. Kanaan was glad the chief walked in on some of the more damning comments, showing how sick in the mind he was. The look on his face was as horrified as a father's could be. 

As soon as Arnook took over, Kanaan ran to find the boy's father. That child did not need to be left unattended and clearly required treatment for his growing madness. After that, he found Spirit heading for the house the Avatar had been given and asked her to follow him back to Sokka and asked her not to go anywhere alone until they were sure Hahn wasn't going to attack her.

This didn't seem to scare or upset her. She nodded and followed. One look at her intended softened her emotionless face to a fond exasperation. He wasn't sure if she would be the one protected or protecting, but Kanaan knew before this was all over one would happen.

'(•V•)'

If he thought things had been bad before, they were much worse now and Arnook wasn't sure they would survive this. The Fire Nation had a fleet in the northern waters, ready to attack, the Southern Chief's future daughter-in-law had proven herself a better fighter than his own men, she also gutted their assassination plan, leaving them with nothing better than attempting to slow the ships down. Now, his chosen heir, who wasn't engaged to Yue because she went behind his back and let the spirits manipulate her, had lost his senses and openly stated he would be willing to murder and force himself on women to get his way.

Now, he had his intended commander locked away at home until his madness could be cured, leaving him to place his daughter's safety in Hakoda's son's hands and the battle to his captains. He wasn't sure what he had done to offend the spirits this badly, but he prayed to the moon and sea that Hahn be healed and their people protected. He wasn't possitive, but he could have sworn the ocean was laughing at him.

'(•V•)'

It was the first time Aang had seen ash filled snow, so it was understandable that he didn't know what it meant until Sokka explained it at the meeting. He didn't understand why they would attack while they were at their weakest, but these days, the Fire Nation didn't usually make sense. Kind of like Spirit. 

Since they got here, he had been hiding, not explaining he wasn't a girl so he could train with everyone else. Now, he was trying to get these guys who wouldn't let girls fight to accept him as someone they could trust with stuff he knew about the Fire Nation. He was also fighting Sokka?

The airbender wasn't sure how that helped, but they let Spirit talk. Which was why the firebender was out here on Appa with him as they tried to stop the first chain of ships so the ones behind them couldn't keep going and attacking the city. Well, He had been there, he was gone now.

Every so often, Aang saw his friend on one of the other ships, but he was like a leaf on the wind. There one moment, gone the next. In another life, he would have made a great Air Nomad.

After dozens and dozens of ships were locked in ice, flooded, wrecked, or whatever Spirit had done to the engines, they headed back, exhausted. He knew Spirit was feeling the lack of sunbathing like he had gotten used to, because he was nodding off the whole flight back. Aang felt a little bad the healer got dragged off to the spirit oasis, but it paid off since Spirit could recognize spirits in their mortal forms.

Their friend left to get some sleep while he and Katara tried to speak with the moon and ocean kois. It wasn't really working. They tried introducing themselves, waterbending, and even meditation, but nothing was really happening until Yue became all glowy.

It was like she was going into the Avatar state, but she was using the spirit of the moon instead of the world spirit. He thought they could teach her bending, but after hours of trying, nothing worked. He would have continued, despite how tired he was, but then the tea guy from the biggest ship showed up and went crazy.

He thought the Avatar kept people's souls? Aang wasn't really sure about that, but he was really strong! If Yue hadn't stopped him, he wasn't sure him and Katara could have held him off much longer.

The poor guy cried when he ended up trapped in that wall of ice. As much as he wanted, Aang couldn't get close to the man and comfort him, so he went back to meditating. He didn't realize he had fallen asleep until he got hit on the head, waking him for a moment, before he was lost back into the darkness.

'(•V•)'

Spirit hadn't thought the Northern Watertribe could get worse without secretly being cannibals, but he was proved wrong when he asked Yue what kind of waterbending training she had received as a child. She was visibly blessed by the spirit of the moon, but they assumed since her parents hadn't been benders she wasn't? They were idiots.

If they had tried to teach her, but she never showed a hint of being a bender, he could have understood, but this was the opposite of his childhood. How could they treat her so carelessly? First the arranged marriage and now this? Did any nation treat their first born princes and princesses well?

His face must have showed just how angry he was at that moment, because Yue looked terrified. He wanted to tell her everything, but he wasn't sure how well she would take him being a firebender, let alone the presumed dead Prince of the Fire Nation, so he created a gentle flame. When she didn't run away, he explained how he had grown up being burned and mistreated because his father said his first born was not going to be a no bender.

He gave a few details, but whenever the princess looked overly upset, he brushed over the cruler parts. By the end of explaining he hadn't learned to bend until he had lost all his comfort in the world, she was more than willing to try to learn how to bend her native element. Then he just needed to get the other possible bender he knew to join them.

All it took was asking if Sokka wanted to join them on Appa so they could try to teach Yue to waterbend without people getting in the way, stopping them, or listening in. He had that cool-headed protectiveness and willingness to change that made Spirit believe the Southern warrior was La's Son. He had seen times where the boy was coldly analytical and indifferent to killing, both were signs of an ocean child.

Now, it was time to see if the moon could bend without the sea or if the ocean could move without the pull off the moon. He may have taken it too far pulling them into his lap and whispering seductively, but awkward situations were the quickest way to get people to bond. After he got the two of them embarrassed enough, he let them go. 

Now, the hard part. Getting them to sit quietly and still. Spirit wasn't sure it was possible, given how they seemed to circle each other.

Thankfully, Yue had only needed a few moments to feel Sokka was like a second ocean at her side. Unfortunately, Sokka didn't take Yue's announcement and Spirit's joy very well. He almost fell out of the saddle and only didn't go flying because Yue pulled ice out of the air to form a barrier.

Both of the two were shaken, so Spirit pulled them in for a comforting, grounding hug, but that sent Sokka into a panic attack. He tried to talk his friend back to reality, but the Southern warrior's heart was still running wild and there was no way those quick, shallow breaths were going to give him the air he needed. He was getting scared for his friend when Yue pulled Sokka out of his tormenting memories with a very passionate kiss that was robbing Sokka of just as much air as the hyperventilating had, but his heart had slowed to a healthy fast verse the dangerous fast it had been.

Spirit was regretting his earlier bonding method since it had pushed the two far closer than he had intended. Then again, Tui and La are lovers, so maybe it was inevitable. Either way, he should have been a little less flirty with the cheifs' children.

He wasn't sure if he should be thankful for a distraction or horrified by what was coming, but he pulled away from the pair to grab some of the icy soot fluttering down from the sky. If the Fire Navy was this far north this time of year, Spirit could guess the Fire Lord's time table for conquering the world. Northern Watertribe over the winter, Be Sing Se in the spring, burn the world to ash with the comet by autumn. On second thought, horrified was the correct answer.

He and Sokka proved how similar they were at times by speaking in unison before he started to tremble. It was as though Agni was distracted from the pole to look elsewhere, cutting off the flow of warmth. He was thankful for being handed off to Yue, his only source of light for his bending.

When he saw Uncle on board Zhao's ship with Miyuki, he realized there were parts of his past he hadn't cast off and never would. Lu Ten's determination and encouragement of swordmastery, Mother's kindness and fondness for hair, and Uncle's tea and gentle teaching. They were as much a part of Spirit as they had been of Zuko, if not more.

But that didn't mean he would just let the Fire Nation troops win as a way to honor them. He was going to be the person they shaped him into for that, and that person would do everything in their power to see that as few people as possible would die to end this. If that meant fighting Uncle, so be it. His heart would heal.

As they flew back, he made plans. How could he convince a male dominant society to listen to a "girl" from outside of their comfortable isolation? There was only one way. Pull an Azula.

Show them just how pitiful they were and show them true power. It wasn't his usual tactic, but it was Spirit's best chance. He just needed to set the situation up just right. It was a good thing his sister liked to show off or he would never have thought to try this.

It went beautifully. Coming in dressed to fight, letting Sokka explain just how much they needed someone who knew the Fire Nation, calling out that self-centered brat that was side glaring at Yue, verbally neutering them, then sword dancing with his "betrothed" to show them he knew their way and more. It all fell into place when Master Pakku stepped forward.

If this level of satisfaction was what Azula felt when she won, it was little wonder she pulled things like this so often. It was exhilarating. He felt like he owed her a few apologies on his and their mother's behalf.

That buzz of accomplishment was shattered with one look at that awful, gaudy armor modeled by that jerk from earlier, likely Chief Arnook's intended hier. He was glad he dashed that plan and was relentless is destroying their plan to kill Zhao, as if that was how things worked. Then again, this boy seemed to think he was like Tui reflected instead of Agni, so he probably did think it was a good plan.

Uncle was their biggest issue. He survived assassination attempts since he was a child and made it six hundred days without being taken out by Earthbenders. The only thing that could really stop him was himself. He tried to explain that, but no one seemed to understand, no even Sokka.

Chief Arnook's new tactic wasn't great, but it was a step in the right direction. It just needed a few tweaks. First being that Spirit was joining in on the sabotage mission.

While Aang took out catapults and the waterbenders took out some ships, Spirit added his spin on the plan. Taking out engines, sealing off ventilation, replacing sugar and all seasoning with salt, just about anything to drive down morale. Then, he looked for survivors.

With a fleet this large, he wasn't surprised to find soldiers that knew him as the Savior of the 41st division. When they realized he was against them, they knew to spread the word. Soon, there was a small mutiny going on. Seeds of chaos sewn, Spirit went in search of Appa so he could get back to the city.

He hadn't realized he was so tired until he stopped moving. He just wanted to ooze out of the saddle and into bed, but instead, he got swept up in the talk to the spirits plan. Exhausted or not, he had as much experience with spirits than the others did, with the possible exception of the Avatar.

Seeing Tui and La as fishes made him realize Miyuki wasn't the only spirit with a physical form in this world. The healing spirit would torture those two with pokes, prods, and tiny scratches. The least he could do was warn them.

He wasn't surprised at all that Katara and Aang tried to win favor with the moon and ocean by talking at and questioning the circling pair. Yue looked appropriately shocked and stood back in a respectful manner. There was a reason Tui liked the princess.

With his job done, Spirit happily moved away from the trio and headed for his wonderfully warm bed. He got lost in the city a time or two in his weariness, so it took him longer to get back to their place than it should have. He finally caught sight of it only for one of the older, more competent warriors to ask him to come with them to get Sokka. 

His exhaustion was pushed back by worried energy. The Northerer was on high alert and seemed to be expecting an attack at any moment. What had happened in the short time since he and Aang got back?

As they walked, the man, Kanaan, told him about Hahn, the spoiled brat from earlier, threatening him harm and seeming to go mad for no reason. Spirit nodded his understanding and agreed not to go anywhere alone until this situation was dealt with. It wasn't really that surprising to the firebender given how Azula had been those few months after their father became Fire Lord and their mother vanished. 

He just hoped she hadn't relapsed back into that insanity after he was "killed". Surely Uncle hadn't abandoned her in his grief. If he had left her alone after that, Spirit was not above beating sense into his second father figure.

Kanaan, pulled him from those thoughts by stopping suddenly and blocking him from the sight of the two people leaving the armory. When they continued inside, Sokka looked like he was ready for a fight and the chief looked sad and confused. So much for sleeping.

He knew Sokka was understandably wound up, so he let his minor frustration at lack of rest dissipate and smiled at nonbender. As they walked to their rooms, Spirit tried to get his friend to loosen up a bit to release the tension he was holding by telling him about the fish spirits, but to no avail. Time for plan B.

It was odd how well it worked. It didn't matter who it was, but asking for help with his hair was the quickest way to relax someone. He had used it against fidgety patients, wired warriors, and traumatized victims. Most declined the offer, but it always calmed them down.

Sokka only got one braid undone before he started explaining everything. Spirit wasn't even sure that his friend realized he was venting, but it helped him understand what all had happened. It took a while, but eventually, he had a traditional wolftail with four braids Incorporated in it, then the rest of his hair was plaited into a wide, flat braid that could easily be hidden in his shirt to give him a more male look.

He fell asleep almost as soon as he laid down and he didn't wake up until just before dawn. Sokka was still worked up about the evening before, likely from not sleeping, so he got face paint too. After that, his friend was about as relaxed as Spirit could get him, so he escorted him to where he had left the others so the Southern chief's son could start his duty of guarding the Northern chief's daughter.

Walking in to see the girls bleeding on the ground was like watching the 41st getting sucked into the ground. His heart plummeted and he felt like a complete failure. But like before, he didn't dwell, he acted.

Thankfully they were alive and not too badly injured. It looked like they had been in a fight, but these wounds were clearly from being knocked out from behind. There was no way someone snuck up on Katara mid fight.

He stopped the bleeding in Yue's hair and gently cradled her head to take as much pressure off her neck as possible. She hadn't dislocated anything in the fall as far as he knew, but it was better safe than sorry. Across from him, Sokka did the same for Katara.

Hearing that it was Uncle who did this in a misguided attempt to save Zuko's soul from the Avatar both angered and amused Spirit. It was nice to know he still cared three years later to put the prince to rest, but now the firebender was going to have to track the man down and get Aang back. Hopefully with the wolf face and Watertribe clothes he wouldn't be recognized.

That was when the girl in his lap opened her eyes and blinked at him in confusion. She looked around and tears pooled in her eyes when she saw it was only the four of them. That distressed look woke something in Spirit's chest.

Uncle may be his family, but so were these three and Aang. He wasn't going to let them go this easily. Not again.

'(•V•)'

Seeing the famed flying bison of the Avatar woke the Dragon of the West in Iroh. He knew from his trips into the spirit world that Lu Ten was at peace, but he could never find out what became of poor Zuko's spirit until that letter from Jeong Jeong. His boy's soul was bound to this young Air Nomad and this old general was not going to let that stand.

The spirit cat having tea with him purred comfortingly as his hand holding his tea began to shake. She had been a great comfort to him since the journey began. Her sweet nature was the only reason he didn't jump up and fire at the six legged beast as it flew high above them.

The day only got worse from there. Zhao woke sooner than expected, coming topside just as the waterbenders attacked. Then, whispers of mutiny started spreading through the fleet like a grease fire on water.

They were saying the Savior was against them that they were wrong to be here. Some believed Zhao's madness was Agni's will and should have been all they needed to desert. Some said if they stayed, it would be Shu Valley all over again.

Iroh tried not to think about that battle. If he had just told Zuko no and kept him from that meeting, his boy would still be alive, but then thousands of loyal Fire Nation citizens would have died in his place. Both were horrible and would forever haunt him like the Six Hundred Day Siege did.

A claw to the soft part on his thigh pulled him out of a an endless loop of 'what if's and back to the issues at hand, which now included boilers that wouldn't stay lit, salt replacing all over flavorings, damaged ventilation, fractured hulls, wet fuel, and who knew what all else. Zhao was raving about the might of the Fire Nation, how this was going to be an easy win against primitive savages. Than, to top it all off like condensed milk on a bowl of shaved ice, the Avatar plowed across the deck, taking out their catapults.

The sun started to set before the Waterbending troops relented and moved back to their tribe, hidden among the icebergs. A great many of the undamaged ship near the rear took on men from other parts of the fleet and left. Those that remained were cold, hungry, and in low spirits. 

He needed to end this quickly or he was going to have another failure on his record. He couldn't have that. If he didn't at least capture the Avatar, Ozai would make sure he never saw Azula again.

He couldn't risk it. His beautiful, brilliant neice needed him as much as he needed her. She had been abandoned too many times that him leaving her would shatter the the sanity he had been cultivating in her over the last few years. If he didn't come back, she would fall right back into the hellish care of his brother who would warp her mind to see the world as he did. 

The Avatar needed to be taken into custody before the full moon or the Fire Nation was doomed. Azula was the last heir to the throne. If she lost her mind or perished, Ozai wouldn't hesitate to burn the world to ash and father a new heir that would lack Ursa's kind touch to temper that man's cruelty. Zuko would have made a wonderful Fire Lord, but his father saw to it that that caring flame was snuffed out before it even had a chance to grow. The Avatar harnessed that kind soul and was holding it as a slave and Iroh was going to put an end to the insanity here and now.

He managed to drug Zhao again, then he tackled the crew issue. He seemed to be the only firebender who could bend without the sun up. A warm pot of jook calmed his ship, but he didn't have time to act as a stove for every ship. 

If he didn't have the Avatar by dawn, he might not have a fleet by noon.

Sneaking off the ship in a raft this small was easy. As was finding the city. Getting in wasn't too hard, given the place was built on pure ice and he was a firebender. The difficult part was finding the Avatar.

He was pleased to see that guards of the Watertribe were just as chatty as this of the palace he grew up in. They all seemed to be infatuated with a girl traveling with the Avatar and were all depressed that she was engaged to the Southern Watertribe boy also traveling with them. They also were talking about where she had gone with the airbender earlier before she had to drag her boyfriend home.

After that, it was just interpreting their comments into directions. It took longer than he hoped, but he was not seen, so it wasn't wasted time and effort. Stepping through the door, he knew he was in the right place.

The Avatar and his companions were clearly not expecting him since they were just practicing basic waterbending. A single flame in the oasis of spirit energy had their attention. Then the fight started.

He was not used to fighting at night anymore, but if fighting at Ba Sing Se taught him anything, it was that Tui's light was just a reflection of Agni's. Waterbenders needed the sea and the moon to bend, firebenders only needed the sun's energy. Those two were no match for the Dragon of the West, even at half his strength.

He was winning. He just needed to continue a little longer and the Avatar would be at his mercy. Then, the spirits interfered.

It was as though Tui's physical form pulled on the flames she helped power until one fireball hit the edge of the pool. He hadn't known the spirits had chosen vessels, but he had just awakened that of the moon. Her unusual white hair took on a light of it's own and the power he had been using from the moonlight was cut off as a wave of water encased him and froze.

He had been so close in stopping the Avatar who acted clueless about his clear harnessing of souls for his own purposes. So close to putting Zuko to rest. So close to getting to see Azula again. So close to saving the Fire Nation. So close, but failed.

His sadness, hopelessness, and frustration came out in big fat tears. He didn't care about their pitying looks, he had just failed everything he cared for. He was going to lose another child, his last hope to comfort his late nephew, the hope for a peaceful future, and possibly his life. He had bet everything on that gambit and lost it all. He had every reason to cry.

He wasn't sure how long he wept for what could have been before Agni stirred on the horizon, relighting Iroh's inner fire that had nearly gone out in his grief. Few deep breaths and he was free, a few more and a dagger hilt later, all three benders were unconscious And the Avatar was his. He gave a prayer of thanks to the sun and stole back the way he came, sure he could get back to the fleet before any permanent damage was done.

For the first time since the Deserter's letter arrived, Iroh smiled a genuine, happy smile.

'(•V•)'

Zhao was mildly impressed with the former General's ability to deal with spirits. He had only been on board a few days, but Miyuki was acting like an actual cat and everything was going to plan. With her contained, the Admiral had actually been able to get full night's of sleep since the prince arrived.

Now, it was time. They had found the tribe of ice savages, so victory was in their grasp! Burning down their city would have them begging to be allowed to be a Fire Nation colony, but they were not here to conquer the water trash, he was here to end waterbending at it's source!

Agni would bless them for weeding out his weak, defiant sister! The Moon would bleed at his hand! He would be forever known as Admiral Zhao, The Spirit Slayer! His great deed would be remembered long after the Dragon of the West was long forgotten! He would be praised as a hero comparable to Sozin himself! A child of Agni's own making!

The disgraced prince knew it was so. He spent his time hanging on his superior's every word and saw to serving him as valet. If he kept it up, history might remember him in a footnote about the Spirit Slayer's past. 

He would rest now, because at sunrise, they moved in for the kill.

'(•V•)'

Why were old tomcats so foolish? Miyuki had been pondering this for days. All her efforts to sooth his chi lead to him getting it all knotted again. He was too much a tom and not enough cat, unlike her kitten.

She did approve of his methods for handling the tickflea. Tea was a wonderful and possibly dangerous thing. Though, she personally thought allowing it to sleep through everything was not the best use of his brewing talent, but he was not an Herbalist, so she forgave him.

Try as she might, she couldn't seem to heal some of the wounds to the patient's spirit. He had suffered losses, but so had all other living things. She just couldn't figure out why he blamed himself for them all.

When her kitten came close before noon, she had to use claws to stop the old tomcat from hurting him. She was miffed at her patient, but it helped her see him better. He was just an idiot.

Oh well. She should have known that him being a litter mate to her kitten's sire wouldn't make him as clever as her kitten. Pity.

She snorted at him as he snuck off the ship and into La's grasp. He was a daring tomcat, she would give him that. If he wasn't back by dawn, she would go get him.

For now, she would go take a nap on the tickflea's face.


End file.
